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dissipate

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Etymology and origin of the English word dissipate

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1425 More words from the 15th century
Borrowed from
Latin dissipatus via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin supō

Pronunciation

  • /ˈdɪsɪpeɪt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dissipaten,[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin dissipātus (“scattered”),[2][5][3] the past participle of dissipō (“to spread abroad, scatter, squander”),[6][3] formed from dis- (“apart”) and supō (“to throw, scatter”),[3][6][5] also sipō.[6][7] Etymonline traces the Latin verb, with an "apparently", to Proto-Indo-European *supi- (“to throw, sling, cast”),[3] and Barnhart and Klein to Proto-Indo-European *swep-, *sup-,[5][8] with Lithuanian supti (“to swing, rock”) as a cognate.[3][8] Barnhart adds that the English verb may in some instances be a back-formation from dissipation.[5] French dissiper is recorded from the 14th century.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To disturb or break up the calm of the mind: about 1425, in a text on the foundation of St Bartholomew's: Drede and heuynesse, Loue and gladnesse..dissipate alweyes the quyete of mynde.[2] Barnhart also dates the verb to about 1425.[5] The first quotation in the OED is from 1532, in Thomas More,[6] and Dictionary.com dates it to 1525–35.[9]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb already covered scattering, squandering and disintegrating, and the English verb took up these senses one by one.[3][6] The physical sense of driving mist or clouds away by diffusion leads to the figurative dispelling of care, fear or doubt.[6] Wasteful spending appears in the 17th century.[6][3] Johnson (1755) gave three senses: to scatter or disperse, to scatter the attention, and to spend a fortune.[10] The noun dissipation moved in the 18th century from squandering and distraction of mind to frivolous diversion and dissolute living,[7] and the verb is recorded for engaging in such pleasures from 1836.[6] In modern use the verb also describes an electrical device losing heat or turning energy into heat that is lost.[11][12]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – to disturb the calm of the mind.[2]
  • before 1460 – to spread out troops.[2]
  • 1532 – to dispel by diffusion, as with mist or clouds.[6]
  • c. 1550 – to scatter; to drive off in all directions.[6]
  • before 1575 – to disintegrate; to destroy completely.[6]
  • 1596 – to disperse in defeat, to rout (obsolete by 1789).[6]
  • 1606 – adjective, scattered, dissipated (obsolete by 1765).[6]
  • 1626 – intransitive, to vanish by diffusion.[6] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1620s.[3]
  • 1682 – to squander money or resources.[6] Etymonline has the 1680s.[3]
  • 1684 – to distract the attention or fritter it away.[6]
  • 1836 – to engage in dissolute pleasures.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cause something to break up and vanish by spreading it out; to disperse or dispel: The breeze soon dissipated the fog.[4][12][13]
  2. To drive away a feeling or doubt: The good news dissipated her fears.[4][11][6]
  3. To squander money, energy or resources: He dissipated his inheritance within two years.[4][6][13]
  4. Of a device or system, to lose heat, or to convert energy into heat that is lost.[11][12]
  5. To become scattered or to vanish gradually: The tension in the hall dissipated.[6][13]
  6. To indulge in dissolute pleasures.[13][6]
  7. To scatter one's attention or effort among many objects.[6][11][10]
  8. To rout an army (obsolete, 1596–1789).[6][11]

Adjective

  1. Scattered, thinly dispersed (obsolete, 1606–1765).[6][12]

Word family

  • dissipater
  • dissipative
  • dissipated
  • dissipator
  • dissipation

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Dissipate.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/dissipate. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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